


She Will Never Stay

by orphan_account



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Harley Quinn (Comics), Poison Ivy (Comics), Suicide Squad (2016)
Genre: F/F, and Pam stops believing, in which Harley never stays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-09-12
Packaged: 2018-08-14 16:09:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8020396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Short drabble in which Harley never stays, and Pamela begins to give up hope. Mentions of Joker/Harley but Harley/Ivy is endgame. </p>
<p>"So maybe you need to fall for the woman who never stays. Maybe you need a whirlwind romance to sweep you off your feet. Or maybe, just possibly, you need to believe in love to make her stay."</p>
            </blockquote>





	She Will Never Stay

Have you ever been in love? 

Rephrase that question. Have you ever been in love with someone who doesn’t love you? Have you ever stayed up all night, worrying about your love, knowing they were never coming home to you? Knowing they were going to run back to their terrible “other half”?

But have you ever been so wildly in love that it kept you up at night, controlled your every thought and action? 

It started when they were in Arkham, both women locked up after a heist gone wrong. They were declared insane, and Pamela Isley knew she was anything but insane. She fought for the privilege of having plants in her cell, and secretly worked with them to make them stronger. Strong enough to break out of Arkham. 

Their cells were separated by a plexiglass wall. Pamela spent every waking moment sitting at that wall, tending to her plants, as Harley sat on the other side and talked animatedly about the Joker and other silly things. Pam started looking forward to the time she spent sitting at the wall with Harley – her plants being set aside for most of the day as they talked. 

When the plants were strong and toxic enough to break her out, she almost left without Harley. Almost. It would have been easier if she left the blonde, ran away without looking back, but she turned around and went after her. As mild of a criminal as Pamela was, she would never let Harley rot in the asylum. 

But she wouldn’t have rotted in Arkham. She would have been fine there. It would have made everything easier – all the complicated feelings – but for some fucked up reason, Pam took the other woman with her. They ran out of the asylum, jumping into the waiting car, and never looked back. 

It would have all been easier if she left the younger woman, came back for her maybe. But Pamela Isley never did anything that would be remotely easy, her entire life a delicate balance between the complex and simple. 

Once breaking out, they found a remote cottage in the woods. Enough room for the two, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. They could have their own space, never interfering with each other aside from pleasantries in the kitchen over a bowl of cereal accompanied with a mug of steaming coffee, but this was never the case. Of course, there were enough bedrooms to give them both their own sleeping space, but Harley wormed her way into Pam’s bed – and into her heart. 

It started when Harley had a bad dream. A soft knock on her door in the middle of the night, Pam almost turned her away, but the pitiful look on Harley’s face was enough to let the blonde in, although Harley had already let herself into Pam’s heart by then. 

There was never a night the blonde didn’t end up in Pam’s tiny double bed, and eventually, she stopped asking to be let in. Pam would retreat to bed after a long night in her greenhouse, already finding the tiny blonde splayed out across her bed – their bed. What was Pam’s became Harley’s, and what Harley had became Pam’s. Black and red clothing started slowly migrating into Pam’s dresser – it’s silly for me to walk across the hall to get dressed, Pammie – and eventually there wasn’t more than a bed and a dresser left in Harley’s room. 

It was a beautiful balance, cuddling before bed and spending lazy days together, but Harley can’t stay content for long. And Pam can’t go long without heartbreak. Someone was always bound to come around and hurt her, and Harley was always bound to run back to him. 

The blonde was like a tornado in every sense of the word. She came in, shook things up, and left abruptly. Never there to deal with the aftermath, gone on to her next victim. 

Despite the hurt when Harley inevitably ended up leaving, Pam found herself looking forward to the next time she would see the blonde, usually in bed at night, though there were nights she didn’t come home. Most likely spent with him. 

Pamela Isley was smart – book smart. She always made the best grades in her class, maximum effort put into everything she ever did. Never approached a situation without knowing absolutely everything and how to handle it, but Harley was a different story. Pam was clueless, dumbfounded, yet drawn back in every time. 

There were days in which Harley was awake early, making breakfast for Pam – her medication and a drink already laid out on the counter – and those were the days that Pam lived for. Then there were the other days, the ones that left the redhead heartbroken – the days in which Harley was out of the house before daybreak and gone for days, presumably with her beloved puddin’. The thought of him anywhere near the blonde made her nauseous. 

But Harley wasn’t hers. She didn’t have the right to feel that way about something – someone – that wasn’t hers, or did she? 

In a way, Harley was hers, and when the blonde would show back up after days of being gone with him, Pam always made a show of her affection. She put on her nicest dresses, her best-smelling perfume, brought in the most beautiful flowers, and made dinner. They always made up, and Harley always ended up in bed curled into Pam’s chest. 

The cycle continued for years – Harley running off and leaving Pam with a broken heart – until the cycle broke. Until Pamela realized she could do better than spend her life waiting on a woman who would never stay. And finally, when Harley came dragging back in after a week of being gone, Pam put her foot down. 

There was no fancy dinner, no nice dresses, no flowers. None of Harley’s favorite cake, painstakingly baked by Pam. There was no spoon full of extra icing for Harley to lick. Most noticeably, there was no Pam. 

She spent all of her time in the greenhouse and garden, retreating to bed when she was sure Harley was asleep, and waking before the blonde could even stir. Pam’s small frame became even smaller, forgetting to eat or drink without Harley. 

The blonde spent all of her time in front of the tv, watching cartoons. Mess piled up around her, becoming more and more chaotic the longer that Pam was gone. She knew not to bother the redhead – she needed space and time. 

But Harley never left. She never took off. 

And Pam never expected her to stay. 

And Harley learned to clean up her own messes – not just the cereal bowls that piled up around the room. 

And Pam started taking care of herself again. 

And it almost seemed as though the two were going to continue on living very separate lives. 

But one morning Pam got up, and the blonde wasn’t in bed. Angry, hot tears streamed down the redhead’s face, soft hiccups accompanying the tears. The smell of coffee filled the house as she padded down the stairs, concern evident in her expression. 

There was breakfast out on the counter, coffee in her mug, her medication beside her plate, and a smiling blonde standing at the sink. 

So maybe you need to fall for the woman who never stays. Maybe you need a whirlwind romance to sweep you off your feet. Or maybe, just possibly, you need to believe in love to make her stay.


End file.
